Month

Giddy goats29 July 2010

Well I realise the blog has been a bit quiet for while now, but there have been some big happenings down on the field.....

Firstly (and a bit giddily) I would like to introduce you to some newcomers to the field, Budd and Molly, aww.

These are our new beautiful sannen x goat kids.  In the spirit of self-sufficiency we plan to milk molly when she's old enough, all I need is a tiny stool!

Goats have a bit of a bad reputation for being destructive escape artists, we very quickly learned (the bad way) where these tales came from.  For the first few days on the field we found Bud was not satisfied with the lovely large pasture and lush hedgerow we provided and liberated himself into the new orchard.  Our naive belief the fences would be high enough and pasture entertaining enough resulted in the loss of a plum tree and damage to several more.  Molly not keen on being left on her own discovered she was small enough to squeeze through the gate and post. 

It's was a steep learning curve.

The goats came from a lovely rescue centre in Penrith, Weatherriggs animal rescue and conservation centre.  They do such a wonderful job caring for their animals it really shows in the character and affectionate nature of Bud and Molly.

Emerge Project Manchester21 May 2010

We would love to see everyone growing there own food, wether in a small window box, front garden, allotment or smallholding.  Early this year we heard about a wonderful project encouraging local residents to 'grow your own' and decided to help.

The Emerge project in Manchester seeks to encourage residents in East Manchester to grow food in their own homes, no matter how little space they own.  They have created a learning garden (which contains the newly built polytunnel), which will be a space for learning new skills with beginners "grow your own sessions" and more advanced "skill share sessions".

New Polytunnel                

They are also working with local groups and streets to encourage the creation of new food projects, be they community gardens, green gyms or simple tool and seed shares.

For more information on this project please visit

www.emergemanchester.co.uk/local-food-works.html

Thank you ben for the update and pictures.

Apple trees and Wormery       
      

The new pond10 May 2010

Ponds are great for wildlife and our ducks really appreciate splashing about in it too.  We are planning to dig three new ponds on the field in natural areas of drainage to encourage more biodiversity and enhance the habitat of the ducks.

The ducks were very enthusiastic about out digging efforts and tried to help,  doing the best they could to get involved.

We made a nice gentle slope for easy access in and out with steeper sides at the back and shelf to establish pond plants on.

We still have some finishing touches to add but it's been a hit with the ducks already.

New chicks and ducks20 April 2010

Wow it's been a busy few weeks here.

We have a new hatch of twenty cream legbar chicks, five rare Ixworth and found a home on the field for three runner ducks.

The cream legbar chicks on the right are an 'auto sexing' breed, so we can tell the girls from the boys straight away.  A basic guide is the ones with yellow spots on the head are boys and the darker stripy ones are the girls. These chicks are feisty little things and grow feathers on their wings very quickly, they are already practicing flying from on end on the brooder to the other.

The three new ducks have come from a family who could not look after them anymore.  They are Indian runner ducks, two are drakes (boys) they are the ones in the lead in the picture below and they both have an adorable curly tail feather.

Our girly duck seems to like her new home and has given us an egg every morning since she arrived.  We have not named them yet and would like your help with this.  If you have any ideas please email us with your suggestions.